MP4 Timed Metadata (sidecar-less DJI footage)

Newer DJI models (Air 3S, Mini 5 Pro, and others) record telemetry inside the MP4 as DJI's djmd/dbgi protobuf timed-metadata track, with no sidecar .SRT. dji-embed reads it via ExifTool, so the convert exporters and verify-sun work directly on the video:

dji-embed convert gpx     DJI_0001.MP4
dji-embed convert geojson DJI_0001.MP4 --redact fuzz
dji-embed verify-sun      DJI_0001.MP4

Input is auto-detected by extension: .mp4/.mov use the ExifTool extractor, .srt uses the subtitle parser. A folder of clips works with dji-embed convert geojson FOLDER --batch.

ExifTool version matters

ExifTool decodes each model's protobuf schema in a specific release:

Model	ExifTool ≥
baseline djmd/dbgi	13.05
DJI Neo	13.35
Air 3S	13.39
Mini 5 Pro	13.52

Newer models land in later releases — check the ExifTool change history. If your ExifTool is too old, the stream is recognised but no GPS is decoded, and dji-embed reports which schema needs a newer ExifTool.

Getting a current ExifTool — distro packages lag badly (Ubuntu 24.04 ships 12.76, which decodes no DJI GPS at all). The built-in installer fetches a pinned, checksum-verified copy into a per-user directory (no admin rights):

dji-embed doctor --install exiftool

It lands in %LOCALAPPDATA%\dji-embed\tools\ (Windows), ~/.local/share/dji-embed/tools/ (Linux) or ~/Library/Application Support/dji-embed/tools/ (macOS), and dji-embed prefers it automatically. dji-embed doctor shows the resolved version and whether it can decode each supported model. To use a specific binary instead, set DJIEMBED_EXIFTOOL_PATH.

What you get

GPSDateTime in the stream is true UTC, so GPX/CoT timestamps, CSV datetime_utc, and verify-sun are correct without any timezone guessing. Field coverage varies by model (e.g. Air 3S includes gimbal angles; Mini 5 Pro is GPS + altitude only). CSV from an MP4 fills geo/altitude/datetime_utc/solar columns; SRT-only camera columns (iso, shutter, …) stay blank.

UTC note: an MP4's time is intrinsic, so --tz-offset is ignored for video.